Imaging of Internal structure of standing trees using ultrasound

Abstract

The non destructive techniques arose from the need to evaluate the properties of materials without affecting the integrity of the element under evaluation. This approach allows great advances in inspections. The application of wave propagation techniques for the assessment of properties has become possible due to the development of the elasticity theory and measurement equipments. With technological advances in instrumentation and computing applications, this technique are becoming increasingly sophisticated and accurate. In the case of wood, previously applications only focused on determining the Young Modulus, began to allow the determination of the global elastic constants, and currently allow assessing the characteristics directly in the tree. The evaluation focused on the tree can allow the properties determining but also the integrity assessing, the latter is the focus of this research. This project aims to provide subsidies for the development of methodology and national technology equipment to perform ultrasonic tomography in living trees. Previous results obtained by the team of the Laboratory of Non-Destructive Testing (LabEND) of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering (FEAGRI) of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) demonstrated the feasibility of developing guidelines and pointed to the continuity and further research. It is expected, with the results, advancing knowledge of parameters that must be taken into account in the model that will be used to construct the algorithm to be used in preparing the images.